Miss Martha had ruined her appearance because of the fire when she was tiny. Her parents never let her leave the bakery. No one had ever seen her after the accident. Her father even redesigned the shop, leaving only one doorway. The four walls were sealed, and one of the walls had a small window that let the shopkeeper contact the customers. She grew up in the store slowly until her parents passed away. She kept the business and obeyed her father that she would never leave the bakery. So she let the delivery man put the goods outside the store.
Ten years had passed, the bakery’s business was getting worse because more novel and delicious types of bread debuted the market. She had never walked out of the bakery without knowing more novel things. Having only a few customers per day, not to mention they were also poor people. They came to buy the loaves because the price had never changed. Miss Martha knew through them that there were many new bakeries. The bread was so soft and delicious, and no one would eat the hard loaves now. Except for them, poor people. Hearing this, Miss Martha wanted to close her bakery. But she didn’t like the poor to go hungry. So she continued to operate even her daily turnover was minimal. She also tried to make a new bread to make the bread softer with more nutritious. She wanted to have more business. Miss Martha tried to put fruits in the bread, more milk and eggs in the bread powder. The effect was, however, not very good. She tried several times but still did not succeed. She tried to ask several customers about how others made the bread. They also had no idea, but they thought as long as a loaf of bread was made with heart, others could feel it.
Miss Martha tried and tried, but still, failure chased her. One night, she met her parents in a dream. Her father told her why she was not successful because she forgot the original intention of making loaves. The bread she was making was bitter and harder than before. She used to be very happy when she made loaves until their death. “Now that you are sad, you make the bread with your tears mixed into the flour. This makes the Loaves taste bitter. You make the loaves for the poor, you don't want them to go on being hungry. But you do not really want to help them. You just want to have more business. Like this, you will never succeed.” Miss Martha slowly remembered the time she used to make loaves with her father. They were delighted whenever they sold bread for the customers.
They could imagine how the customers would enjoy the bread. They would set the table for eating the bread like they had a banquet. She understood her mistake and woke up from her dream. She immediately went to the bakery and retrieved her original intention. She was thrilled that her father had corrected her mistake.
The next day, the store was open as usual, but the difference was that the aroma of bread wandered on the street. Attracting a lot of customers, they bought the bread and tried. It was soft and delicious. Although there was only one style of bread, the taste was different on each one’s taste buds. The taste of kind people was sweet, but the taste of selfishness or bad people was bitter.
More and more people came to buy bread, changing its name to “witches’ loaves”. She was getting busier, and she really needed someone to help her. She found a poor person to help her, and it was the first time she showed her face in front of others. She was encouraged by others not to care about how others think of her. She renovated the bakery. The walls were changed to floor-to-celling glass. People could see how she made the bread. In fact, people did not care about her face. She invited many poor people to work in her bakery. That interested many people, she did not only make the delicious loaves, but she was also a kind person. She spent all the money she earned to help the poor.
The bakery had become an attraction in the town, the name of her store was also changed to “Witches' Loaves”. Upon her death, the bakery had become a museum to allow visitors. To commemorate her, people carved a bronze statue for her. Sometimes people would hear someone make the bread at night and smelled the scent of fresh loaves. Of course, there was no one inside. So, they thought that, perhaps, the spirit of Miss Martha still existed in the bakery. She had never left the bakery. Just as her father told her.